I Meet the Mutt [CURRENTLY BEING EDITED]

2 | Getting a Plan in Place...and Becoming a Stalker

In every story, it seems like the villain isn't the villain without his or her devoted accomplices. Now technically speaking, Victoria would be the Joker to my Batman, but I was the one about to sabotage her, so....

My steadfast henchmen turned out to be the astounding group of...three people. Emma Burman, Logan Tong, and Ian Mitchell. They weren't an impressive bunch, but we'd been best friends since puberty had kicked in, making us the Fantastic Four. 

For a while now, they'd been urging me to do something with my life. I was a pretty boring person. I didn't have that many afterschool activities (in fact I don't think I had any at all), hobbies, or sports. My idea of "fun" was lying on the couch, watching romcoms with Emma. 

I knew they'd be on board with my idea. Besides, I'd kept my "single" nametag my entire high school career now. Even a fake relationship would be something new to them. 

"Wow, someone's excited. You don't look dead inside for once," Emma commented once I walked to her, grinning. We chose to be that stereotypically poetic group by the marble pillars and took to leaning against them with thoughtful expressions. 

"I've got a plan to take down Victoria."

Immediately, backs straightened, eyes focused, eyebrows raised - well, only in my imagination, to be honest. Logan yawned and stretched.

"Didn't you say that on her birthday, when you said you were going to throw her in a body bag?"

Ian chimed in, "Yeah, and then Angela ended up sleeping past the alarms, and when we went to help her, we found she didn't even have body bags to begin with."

I raised my chin haughtily. "It's because I realized it was a bad idea. My parents would have asked questions. This one's different - you're going to want to hear it."

"Fine," Emma conceded reluctantly, but not before smirking at the guys and muttering under her breath, "how unrealistic could it be?"

Taking a deep breath, I announced: "I've decided I'm going to make Joshua Robertson fall in love with me."

...

Humiliatingly enough, it took the three a good five minutes to stop laughing. I was fuming. What was so funny? My plan was great. 

"I would really appreciate it if you guys have some respect for me," I grumbled, trying to seem dignified with all the weird looks our way. However, that's very difficult when your closest friends are snorting so hard they might as well be newborn pigs. 

We walked together to AP World History, our only class together. Being friends in high-school means that you'll never get the same classes, whereas that one person you can't stand will be in every class you have. It's a mean twist of fate but that's how it is.

Emma coughed to mask her giggles, finally sobering up. "Alright, alright. Hold up. How the hell did you even get this idea?"

"And your sister is so hot," Logan added. Emma and I rolled our eyes. Logan the womanizer. He was always dating at least someone. Well - to be most accurate, he dated guys too, just not as often. Logan wasn't necessarily a bad guy or a player, he just happened to take and lose interest as fast as lightning striking. 

"Well, you guys remember that whole breakup between Victoria and Josh, right? That's the one thing that can get to her. If I date him, she'll be pissed off, and I get my revenge," I finished with an extravagant flourish. As we took our seats (all in a straight row), Ian scratched his neck.

"I don't know, Angie. That's kind of sick."

Frowning, Emma countered, "What, but shoving her against a locker, bullying her in front of everyone, that isn't sick? Can't we just say that Victoria deserves this? Especially after putting Angie through all her shit."

I nodded at Emma. "Exactly. You guys aren't always there when Victoria picks on me, but it's not always pretty." I winced, recalling the one time she locked me in a closet for the entire school day. That's where my claustrophobia stemmed from. Our school blocks every known app on our phone, to the point where you can't even use iMessage. I was stuck in there with nothing to help me, crying and begging Victoria to let me out.

It wasn't until the janitors were cleaning up at five or six that they found me. Being janitors, they didn't exactly ask for an explanation, and I wasn't mentally ready to give one. I kept that a secret, being embarrassed and traumatized because of it. No one knows about it, not even Emma. 

Emma and I usually had more classes together simply because our interests matched, so that's why she's known to be attached to my hip. Meanwhile, the boys are on their own. Victoria only dares harass me when my guy friends are around. 

"Alright, fair point," Ian whispered once our teacher began talking. She was one of those batshit crazy, strict teachers that were allergic to having fun. We were caught talking once and she nearly gave us a detention, so that should give you an idea about her. She pulled up a slideshow and began monotonously droning on about North Korea, giving us the incentive that we'd be okay. 

Mrs. Cormick never paid attention to anything when she was presenting slideshows. 

Logan leaned back, then said: "Say you do this revenge plan. It's diabolical, yes, and a cruel play of Victoria's emotions...but I like it." He smirked. "How are you going to go about doing it? You know how popular Josh is. And while I'm pretty known throughout our school, I don't think I'd be able to score you a date with him or anything. I don't think he likes me very much."

"Are you kidding? Everyone likes you," Emma whispered back ferociously. Logan winked at her.

"Emma, I appreciate the boost of my self-esteem, but unfortunately, not everyone's like you."

Sputtering, Emma could barely form a coherent sentence. "W-what? I don't like you!"

Oh, poor Emma. She had it bad for Logan. We all knew it...except Logan, of course. Crushes within friendships often end up like that. I exchanged knowing glances with Ian, who understand everything perfectly. 

"Guys, focus," I commanded. "What do we do?"

"I mean, no offense, but we're kind of just a bunch of nobodies," Ian pointed out, shrugging carelessly. "If we want you to even have the slightest chance with Josh, we need you to catch his attention."

A sly smile made its way onto Emma's face as she looked at me. "You know what that means. Research!" she hiss-yelled excitedly.

'Yell' would probably have been a better word to use, as Mrs. Cormick stopped talking momentarily and stared her down.

"Emma, you got something to say?" Logan, Ian and I shook our heads, laughing silently.

She slunk in her seat, giving us the stink-eye. "No."

"Good. Now if you and Angela could stop gossiping, that would be great. Even if you two don't want to learn about history, doesn't mean the rest of the class doesn't."

It was incredibly ironic, because Emma and I were the most animated of the entire class. Our peers were either doodling in their notebooks, gazing distantly at the clock and windows, or falling asleep. One girl even had drool coming out of the edge of her mouth. Mrs. Cormick would soon come to realize that her only audience was the pet frog. And even then, I was pretty sure the frog had died years ago. 

For the rest of the class period, we passed around a sheet of paper detailing all of the information we had on Josh. We mutually agreed to stalk all his social medias during lunch, if we could get on the terrible wifi. 

Already, I could feel my heart lighten. The plan was beginning to be put in place. And soon, soon I'd have my vengeance. 

Soon I could finally be free.